Forward-Thinking Parking Garage Construction in Kansas City

Developers face countless details and considerations when undertaking new parking garage construction—in Kansas City or any other traffic-heavy city. Site safety, logistics, scheduling and more stack up to create a daunting challenge. McCownGordon Construction brings expertise and successful experience to parking garage construction in Kansas City and across the region.

Starting a parking garage construction project without a thorough understanding of potential challenges can lengthen your timeline and add costs along the way. With our parking garage construction expertise, we guide you through the decision-making process to make your vision a reality.

Because parking garages are built to meet the demand of highly trafficked areas, complications often arise from the close proximity to other businesses.

We offer invaluable insight into tight and occupied jobsites from the early preconstruction phases of your project. Some top concerns with these types of sites revolve around safety, logistics and project schedule. To ensure things go smoothly, we implement a site-specific safety plan that considers a site’s unique hazards, personnel involved and the project’s goals.

Parking garage design and construction

The future use of parking itself is an increasingly common question to address when undertaking any parking garage construction project.

When you partner with McCownGordon, you benefit from our extensive knowledge of the processes and decisions that go into parking garage design and construction. 

Future-proofing parking garage design layout 

Future adaptability is a key driver in the long-term success of parking garage development.  Transitions to self-driving and electric cars, as well as increased use of ride-sharing and public transportation, will impact the amount of parking needed on projects.

Forward-thinking developers are beginning to see the benefit of early design-assist to assess the mechanical and structural components to ensure compatibility throughout the entire lifecycle of your structure. We help develop designs that can be easily transitioned into other uses as needed.

These trends mean the future of parking garage design in Kansas City and across our service regions won’t look like the parking garages of the past. We can walk clients through different options for renewable energies, materials and processes to consider for their project. One example is a project owner who isn’t ready to install solar panels. Our team helps the design account for installing solar in the future by reserving space on the roof and ensuring the electrical panels and system are robust enough to adequately handle solar power. 

Fewer cars overall

The trend for the future is fewer cars on the road and vehicles that rely on alternative energy sources, like electricity. Fewer cars means reduced need for parking, and smaller overall footprints for parking garages. 

Whether you’re a developer or owner and end-user building a structure, you want to plan for the future. The life of your building can go beyond 50 years, so it’s vital to partner with a trusted advisor who will assist you by evaluating your needs now and for the future. 

When you need to accommodate existing parking needs, but want the option to transition unneeded parking space in the future, it takes in-depth planning. As experts in parking garage construction, we have experience developing plans to transition parking floors into office or residential floors. Parking garage floors don’t require the same floor-to-floor heights as other types of structures, so building them taller gives the future adaptability you need. 

Floor-to-floor height is just one of many considerations. Steel column spacing for an office could be 50 feet, whereas a parking garage could be 30 feet, which leads to the need for a costly transfer level. Fire ratings for office and residential differ from parking structures, and that does not account for the way building codes in general change. 

The business performance solutions team at McCownGordon keeps up on every detail when it comes to potential future-proofing and cost savings in your project.

More electric vehicles

With the electric vehicle market growing, more Americans need convenient access to quality EV charging stations. Forward-thinking mixed-use developers understand the need for adequate space dedicated to charging electric vehicles. 

It’s also worth noting that codes themselves now often require a certain number of charging spots for electric vehicles, and our team keeps abreast of any changes in codes to ensure the proper number of spaces for each build. 

Two common challenges faced during parking garage construction projects

Unexpected issues may arise, but the construction phase for parking garages encounters common challenges.

1. Minimizing construction-related impacts for nearby businesses

Every member of the McCownGordon team understands their responsibility for minimizing potential disruptions to nearby businesses and the importance of establishing open and clear communication in advance. 

Businesses located near garage construction rely on day-to-day operations continuing as normal while construction is in progress. From the beginning stages of the project, we plan ahead to eliminate disruptions—especially to pedestrian foot traffic, package deliveries and trash pick-up. 

Some complications cannot be anticipated and can interrupt even the best laid plans. When that happens, we proactively communicate with those businesses as early as possible. Helping them understand what to expect eases stress and anxiety that often occurs for businesses operating near construction.

2. Pedestrian safety

On every McCownGordon project, commitment to safety is paramount. When building in high trafficked areas, we uphold the responsibility of pedestrian safety without impacting access to businesses in the area. 

Related: Ensuring Construction Site Safety

We approach access issues from the perspective of those with the most difficulty navigating such spaces. We ensure everyone can move freely while avoiding the construction site itself with thoughtful placement of ramps and clear signage. In addition to a focus on pedestrian safety throughout the construction phase, the entire parking garage design should emphasize the ability to walk safely from the parking garage to surrounding businesses or other points in the area. 

A community-engaged partner in construction

McCownGordon’s history of success in parking garage projects adds unmatched value to the overall construction experience for project owners and the community alike. We understand our public-facing role as contractor and the importance of communicating, not just with the project owner and trade partners, but the public as well. 

Some ways we have streamlined communication with communities has been through unique web pages, social media updates, neighborhood door hangers, press releases and presenting materials in community meetings. 

Building trust and relationships

We spend time getting to know the project owner and businesses in the construction area. Building strong relationships has always been a core value. It’s vital to listen to business owners and understand the impact our construction could have on their business. To that end, we’ve been known to hold regular meetings with businesses near construction to keep them continuously updated as to upcoming activities. With this open line of communication, we can tell the public exactly what steps we take to minimize interruptions to day-to-day operations. 

Continuously serving our clients as a trusted advisor

Our relationship doesn’t end when construction begins. Throughout the entire project, our team is here to answer questions and continually follow up with clients to ensure we serve at the best of our ability.

As project owners discover the value of integrating our expertise earlier in the process, we gain opportunities to drive success. It’s never too early to start collaborating with a team on complex construction projects, especially on parking garages within mixed-use developments where there are often multiple stakeholders involved.

Our goal is to create a smoother, easy-to-navigate process for our clients. Starting early lets us help clients attain a deeper understanding of the different phases of projects. We can put things into an effective timeline that allows the clients to make decisions and find cost-savings in the early stages.

Experts with parking garage construction in Kansas City and beyond

McCownGordon is prepared to meet the need for parking garage construction in Kansas City and across all regions we serve. We focus on the future, ensuring your building maximizes its service life and prioritizes diverse future use cases.Our collaborative project delivery methods lead to optimum results for nearly any project through reduced risk, early collaboration and balanced participation.

At McCownGordon, our team maintains a customer-focused mentality, allowing us to meet or exceed even your highest expectations. Dedicated to promoting integrity, performance and relationships, it’s our people and values that truly make the difference.

Our customers aren’t simply another project; they’re an extension of our team and community. Together, we don’t just build—we bring creative visions to life. From first thought to final nail, we deliver quality work to ensure our builds stand above the rest. 

We have three regional offices around the Midwest—Kansas City, Manhattan and Wichita in addition to our newest location in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. Call us at 888-304-4929 or use our free online quote tool to start building today. 

Let’s Build.